Michigan State reevaluating center job after two games

Posted Sep 13, 2018

Michigan State center Tyler Higby (70) looks on during their college football game against Utah State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Friday, August 31, 2018. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com) Mike Mulholland | MLive.com (Mike Mulholland)

EAST LANSING -- Offensive line play is typically difficult to evaluate in real-time, with five players executing individual assignments within a blocking scheme in the center of a mass of bodies.

But what happened to junior center Tyler Higby on two plays in Michigan State's loss to Arizona State on Saturday night was difficult to miss.

On a third-and-1 in the Arizona State red zone early in the second quarter, Higby snapped the ball to quarterback Brian Lewerke and was immediately knocked down by ASU nose tackle Renell Wren. That led to an onrush of Sun Devils defenders that stopped Lewerke short on a quarterback sneak and forced the Spartans to settle for a field goal.

A quarter later, Michigan State again faced a 3rd-and-short in the red zone. And again, Higby was pushed onto his back by Wren. This time, Higby fell into Lewerke before a handoff and the Spartans lost three yards and settled for another field goal.

There were plenty of issues with the Spartans blocking overall, but those two plays were some of the most visible.

"You saw a couple of times what happened to him, things got disrupted," Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said on Tuesday. "And when you can't control the center box, when you can't control the nose it's difficult to run the ball."

That performance has Spartans coaches reevaluating a surprise decision they made in fall camp to make Higby the team's starting center. Sophomore Matt Allen was seen as the heir apparent to the Spartans center position, after serving as the backup there to his older brother, Brian, last year.

But on Aug. 14, Dantonio announced that Higby had become the Spartans' No. 1 center. The Houston made seven starts last year at left guard and played some center during spring practice while also playing guard. He didn't make a full-time move to center until a few weeks before the season, a fact that has showed at times through two games.

"It's not from a lack of trying or a lack of will, but he's snapping the ball and he's probably not stepping, he's probably catching," Dantonio said of Higby's struggles.

Dantonio said the change was made to try to put the Spartans' best five offensive linemen on the field. But the last-minute move to center has proven difficult at times, and Dantonio said Allen has been improved and is more comfortable in the position. As of Tuesday, Dantonio said the coaching staff would be evaluating the situation during the Spartans' bye week.

"We certainly have to try to figure that out as we go," Dantonio said. "That's one of the things we're going to figure out in the next couple of weeks here."

As he dissected Michigan State's upset loss, Dantonio was clear in not singling out any one player or position group for some of the Spartans' struggles.

Michigan State rushed for just 63 yards on 27 carries against Arizona State and has at times struggled to protect its quarterback. But on a sack and fumble in the fourth quarter on Saturday, Dantonio said a missed assignment from a running back, not an offensive lineman, led to a defender entering the MSU backfield untouched. On a late sack, Dantonio said he thought Lewerke had time to throw before the pressure got to him.

Dantonio also said he thought Wren knew Michigan State's snap count and that the team should have varied its count to prevent him from bowling over Higby.

While Higby's struggles may have been the most visible on Saturday and led to considered changes, Dantonio said they weren't the sole reason for the Spartans' issues.

"There's a lot that goes into this, and that's why football becomes such a complicated game and people talk about it all the time with all the answers," Dantonio said.